The Strive Masiyiwa-founded Zimbabwean telecoms giant has bought a medical cover company from former chairman Tawanda Nyambirai and changed the company's name to Steward Health.

Econet controls Steward Bank, formerly TN Bank, which also holds a banking licence for its mobile money services system EcoCash.

Econet has over 8 million mobile phone subscribers.

"The change in the name to Steward Health is in line with the wider strategy by Econet Wireless to form a financial services business portfolio under the Steward banner, " the company said on Wednesday.

Econet, which has witnessed declining revenues from its voice telephony category, is increasingly looking to value-added services and data to boost its revenues and profitability.